How can the array_count_values function in PHP be utilized to count specific array values, and what considerations should be taken into account?

To count specific array values using the array_count_values function in PHP, you can pass the array to the function and then access the count of a specific value by providing the value as the key in the resulting associative array. It's important to note that the function is case-sensitive, so make sure to account for that when counting values.

// Example array
$array = array("apple", "banana", "apple", "orange", "banana");

// Count occurrences of specific values
$valueCounts = array_count_values($array);

// Count occurrences of "apple"
$countApple = $valueCounts["apple"];

echo "Count of 'apple': " . $countApple; // Output: Count of 'apple': 2